The Year of the Snake

While my tutor told me that not many Khmer people celebrate the Chinese New Year or those that do do it for business reasons (your guess is as good as mine as to what that actually means...) this weekend I witnessed parties and fireworks and sparklers and that general cheer that comes with bringing in a new year. And that year is the year of the snake - or my year.

About a month ago I asked a pregnant woman at the health center what year she was born. The response was chnaam say which translates to year of the horse. I was confused when one of the midwives did the math and wrote down 1991 because I knew myself to be a horse (born 20 January 1990). So of course I did so investigative work and found out that for all my life I had thought I was a horse when in actuality I am a snake. (The Chinese Zodiac follows the Chinese New Year of course, so February to February.) And now life makes sense.

Although some might say that this past year was one of my finest - accepting my invitation to serve in Cambodia exactly a year to the day, graduating from Kenyon, and now 7 months in country to the day - I am excited to say that there is much more ahead. Because yesterday was the first day of the year of the snake - my year. Cheers.